Capacity Building with African Cities

Participants of the first Singapore UN-Habitat International Leaders in Urban Governance Programme on a site visit to Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay. Source: CLC/MFA

From left to right: Mr Khoo Teng Chye (CLC), Dr Aisa Kirabo Kacyira (UN Habitat) Mr Jonathan Tow (MFA). Source: CLC/MFA

Learning journey at the Singapore River. Source: CLC/MFA

CLC Fellow, Mr Chionh Chye Khye and participants during a dialogue on housing policy. Source: CLC/MFA

Forty-two participants from 14 cities representing 12 African countries visited Singapore from June 5–9 2017 for the inaugural Singapore UN-Habitat International Leaders in Urban Governance Programme (SG UN-Habitat iLUGP 2017). This is the Centre for Liveable Cities’ first dedicated capacity-building programme on sustainable urbanisation for African cities, as well as the Centre’s maiden partnership with UN-Habitat. The programme supports the New Urban Agenda that was set in last October’s Habitat III UN conference and, specifically, Sustainable Development Goal 11, or SDG 11, which outlines the target to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.

About the programme
Since Habitat III, international cooperation and partnerships have been highlighted as key catalysts for sustainable urban growth. Singapore, represented by the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), have likewise partnered UN-Habitat to deliver capacity-building programmes to help developing cities reach their urban potential.

In her opening remarks for the programme, Dr Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat stressed that urbanisation is a source of development and can be an engine for prosperity and human progress. She presented a vision for the programme and explained that it seeks to better equip city leaders with key urban systems principles, knowledge, skills and tools for planning urbanisation. At the same time the programme would enable participants to lead the change in the urban planning of their respective cities. This will be a key driver in progress towards the achievement of the SDGs. She also highlighted the unique opportunity for knowledge exchange and peer-to-peer learning.

Naison Mutizwa-Mangiza, Director for the UN Habitat Regional Office for Africa also explained the purpose of the New Urban Agenda in the programme, by showing how it promotes the link between successful planned urbanisation and national development. This can be achieved through UN-Habitat’s five substantive pillars: a1) National Urban Policies; 2) Urban legislation, rules and regulations; 3) urban planning and design; 4) urban economy and municipal finance; and 5) local implementation. In each of these substantive areas, African cities can capitalise on their strengths to prioritise good planning, he added.

The African Context
By 2030, half of the estimated world population that live in urban areas is predicted to come from Africa. Africa also grapples with urbanisation without industrialisation, resulting in rising informal employment and high rates of youth unemployment. Amid these demographic trends, African cities are trying to plan cities that are both inclusive and sustainable.

African cities also face funding shortfalls coupled with complex urban governance challenges. For example, the team from N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, is grappling with post-war recovery as the city strives to accommodate displaced persons and a major funding crisis due to a plunge in the price of oil, the country’s largest source of revenue. Cities were also keen to learn about solid waste management and financing infrastructure without suffering the pitfalls of foreign loan dependency. Also high on the city’s agenda are informal settlements, where people – drawn to the city for its economic opportunities – are unable to find adequate, safe and affordable housing. Additionally, given the current conditions in the rest of Africa, urbanisation is often seen as detrimental to development.

Making sustainable urbanisation relevant for Africa
To help African cities understand how to begin to overcome these challenges and make urbanisation a potential driver for development, CLC and UN-Habitat designed a programme that marries Singapore’s urbanisation experience and UN-Habitat’s global expertise.

Central to the programme curriculum was the Singapore Liveability Framework. The framework is distilled from Singapore’s urban development experience and identifies the two key urban systems that help cities achieve sustainable development outcomes, namely, dynamic urban governance and integrated master planning and development. Through lectures, dialogues with experts or site visits, the relevance and means of applying these urban systems as a framework to guide sustainable urban development was demonstrated.

To help participants understand the practical implications of SDG 11, Mr Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director of CLC, described Singapore as an illustrative example of the principles of the New Urban Agenda, namely, planning and governance. He explained Singapore’s contribution to the New Urban Agenda and the way in which the Framework provides a simple yet profound guide for effectively implementing the New Urban Agenda. Mr Khoo also shared Singapore’s use of concept planning and how the national plan has evolved to meet the needs of changing demographics and guides shorter-term master plans.

This was complemented by UN-Habitat’s sharing from their experience of working with several developing cities, including those from Africa. Through this, they explained the global agenda for sustainable urbanisation, and helped cities visualise how they could reach the targets set by SDG 11 and the New Urban Agenda. For instance, Claudio Acioly, Head of UN-Habitat’s Capacity Development Unit, shared observations on the key principles of good housing policy, and presented a few international case studies of both successful and unsuccessful efforts in affordable housing. He also provided examples of government interventions targeting both supply and demand that cities could explore.

In view of financing for development being a challenge commonly faced by developing cities, the programme included a dedicated session on financing, where discussions centred on how cities could finance major infrastructure and housing projects. Singapore and World Bank experts explained the importance of good fiscal management and finding sustainable approaches to generate revenue from unused land. Participants also had an opportunity to network with some of Singapore’s urban development and infrastructure companies that had an active presence in Africa.

Putting plans into action
Site visits were organised to locations such as the Singapore River, the Marina Barrage, the Housing & Development Board Hub and Toa Payoh Town, in order that participants could see “principles in action”. In addition, participants also worked on action plans where they tapped on the knowledge and experience of sector experts to generate feasible ideas and solution to address their top local urban challenges.

Frank discussions among participants allowed them to share experiences and insights gleaned from their local contexts. Many participants affirmed the importance of consistent and principled leadership and urban governance as a critical factor in development. Other participants expressed frustration with the process of development in their cities and countries, citing the lack of progress, frequent disruptions due to changes in political leadership, and insufficient fiscal autonomy (many cities relied heavily on central government funding for their budgets). Also raised was the significant impact that the multi-tier system of governance, prevalent in African cities, had on city governments’ ability to implement projects.

These project discussions also allowed participants to gain new perspectives on some of their urban challenges. For instance, one of the cities has been struggling with an affordable housing project and noted that for the government to be able to work out a sustainable model for the provision of housing, it is important that the scheme starts with providing housing for the strata of population which has the ability to pay for their own housing and not necessarily for those that have to depend entirely on government subsidies.

Conclusion
Overall, participants found the five-day programme packed with useful insights and knowledge on sustainable urban planning. They acknowledged that even as the circumstances of their cities vary drastically from that of Singapore’s, takeaways gleaned from the programme’s dedicated focus on Africa gave them hope that building sustainable cities in their countries is possible.

About the Writer

Katyana Melic

Katyana Melic is a researcher at the Centre for Liveable Cities.